The internet has created an era of vigilante news reporters and detectives, and sometimes it turns out really good for the rest of us. Just look at the food industry — where whistleblowers and food offenders are going viral on social media, letting consumers know of either sketchy or disgusting (and potentially dangerous) practices. Most recently, a lady named Loretta Seto whipped out her camera phone for a “buyer beware” after visiting a 99 Ranch Market store in San Jose and witnessing raw pork being wheeled into the store in Costco shopping carts.
Seto meant to warn parents and other Costco cart users of the dangers of sitting their children and belongings in the carts, but of course, there are much more dangerous, unhealthy implications of raw meat intended to be sold to the public just chillin’ in a shopping cart. As such, the United States Department of Agriculture had to step into the situation.
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has began an investigation as to why the men carrying in the meat — employees at Jim’s Farm Meat — would have a need to unwrap the pork from its original packaging in which it is generally housed during delivery. Maria Moon, office manager at Jim’s Farm Meat, explained to the Modesto Bee that that’s not how they usually do business.
“We are thoroughly investigating the incident,” Moon said, “This isn’t anything we typically do. When we send our products out, they are always in a combo bin and wrapped. That’s how it left our facility.”
Moon also mentioned the men have been fired, and that they are investigating whether the delivery conditions were requested by 99 Ranch Market. The store, however, claims no culpability in the matter, and is filing a claim against Jim’s Farm Meat, releasing the following statement: “On behalf of 99 Ranch Market, we are terribly sorry for this incident that happened in one of our stores. 99 Ranch Market is committed to food safety and customer satisfaction. Therefore, we are taking the necessary steps to resolve this issue by investigating this case further and filing a complaint against our vendor. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”
Since no one wants to claim responsibility for the pork problem, we’ll just have to wait and see who-done-it after the investigation is over. Meanwhile we’re left with a single thought: gross.
